STATEMENT FROM CAMPAIGN TO CLOSE RIKERS ON MAYOR MAMDANI’S APPOINTMENT OF NEW DOC COMMISSIONER

Today, Mayor Mamdani announced his appointment of Stanley Richards to the position of Department of Correction Commissioner. In response, the Campaign to Close Rikers issued the following statement:

“After four years of Mayor Eric Adams delaying and obstructing the implementation of the plan to close Rikers, it is imperative that Mayor Mamdani’s appointees take immediate action to enact a vision for community safety in which all New Yorkers are considered. The DOC Commissioner’s first actions should deploy every tool at his disposal to divert people from Rikers, where people continue to die, and to hasten its closure, by expediting the borough-based jails and permanently transferring empty jails on Rikers, like AMKC, out of DOC’s control. We also expect the Commissioner to be a partner in proposing a budget that will redirect funding from longstanding and wasteful uniformed vacancies at DOC to the community investments that keep people out of jail.”

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